The best ferro I had seen was in Charleston, SC built in South Africa. I hope they made it back to SA. It was an aces job. Not your backyard job. Looked like glass on the surface. Penitration into the steel structure would be a constant concern once a breach is made electrolysis takes hold. One big battery.

Thank you the last 2 threads for some encouragement.I've never maintained that ferro is the best hull material,just that if done properly a beautiful and strong boat can be had.Re insurance this is a problem because of all the negative fibes out there and most surveyors have little head knowledge except these fibes re ferro.Whilst cruising I have seen some terrible steel and glass boats but ultimately we all choose what we can a afford and try to make our dreams come true.Statistics would probably show that most ferros HAVE cruised in foreign waters(people making dreams come true)whilst most glass boats although capable end up as toys in marinas and probably less than 10% cruise foreign waters.Depends which group you want to belong to.Enjoy whatever boat you have.I personally WILL cruise so I have again chosen something I deem reliable and within my budget.
Clyde

Hello,
I'm a owner of a 48ft ferro ketch since 1986 build by professionals at 1978. I have no complaints on the ferro hull, but the deck was made of blywood and teak, and i wish it were build of ferro too with teak cover. Now after 31 years, i'm rebuilding the deck, this time of blywood and fiberclass plus teak.
I would still prefare ferro if i had to build/buy a new boat.

Hello again,
My boat is one off, a professional designer planned a serie of 4 ferro boats 1997-1979, where of one quite identical with my, one with same measures but sloop and with centre cocpit and the fourth one was a smaller sloop. Which is by the way for sale as the designer/skipper is getting old. Try to find a picture of it if i can.
Here's a few pitctures of my boat, one where she is just coming out from carpenter's workshop at 1978, and one where she's in the air 2005 after being 5 years in the sea in row, around the year, in Helsinki ( lat 60N), where the sea can get some 10-50 cm thick ice. A few more pics can be found in my postings.
The measures of my boat are, loa 16m, hull lenght 14,6, beam 3,5 m, draught 2m and displacement 22 ton. She sails very well too , have made 11 knots as max speed, and some 30 to 20 from wind. 48ft and 22 ton is about the heavy side, and she's not a racer but made for cruising and liveaboard.
On the other hand, there was a fiberclass sloop of 46ft with 18 ton as displacement in our club as well, built in UK for world around voyage (sailed 1994-1997).

When buying a boat, of any material, take a good inspection, ask for drawings and instructions for hull, deck, rigging, engine, electricity etc, and take a test sail if possible.

The best ferro I had seen was in Charleston, SC built in South Africa. I hope they made it back to SA. It was an aces job. Not your backyard job. Looked like glass on the surface. Penitration into the steel structure would be a constant concern once a breach is made electrolysis takes hold. One big battery.

What Cadence says is true. A major problem in parking garages is corrosion in the steel reinforcing. This is caused by street salt dripping onto the concrete deck in winter. The salt/water mixture works its way into the concrete and works on the steel reinforcing. In ferro the same would be true and the same result observed over time. It is strange to say but ferro is likely the most fragile of hull materials.

Keep in mind, the bare hull is about 10% of the total cost of a finished boat . The cost of the engine, electrics, electronics, spars etc. make up the rest. So if you produce ferro hull at 25% of the cost of a GRP hull you have not saved very much. However, by deciding on ferro at the outset you have reduced the total value (what a prospective buyer is willing to pay) of the finished boat by 90% . Since your lifetime earning potential is limited, why throw away so much money? Far better to find a large, (perhaps hurricane damaged) GRP boat. When you are done with the project you will be able to recover more of your investment .

I am an architect with about 30 years of experience. A lot of effort is put into solving the problem of keeping ground water out of below-grade concrete walls. These walls are upwards of 12" thick and are stationary. Ferro cement hulls are much thinner and are in a dynamic marineenvironment. Obviously, this is a far more challenging problem to solve.

As noted in previous posts, there are additional issues with concrete concerning its strength in tension and corrosion in the armature when (not if) salt water migrates into the shell. But by far the greatest issue is with the economics of ferro. Your life has value at least to you. You only have so many hours in your lifetime to earn a living. It does not make sense to put those hours into an effort that actually erodes the value of all the other components added to the bare hull.

Having said all that, if you want to buy or build a ferro boat, go right ahead. It's your money and your life. Invest either as you will.

I agree with Sam, and will add that because the reinforcing steel is usually a welded mesh (6x6 10/10 WWF) or finer screen, the small diameter wire will rust through much quicker than steel re-bar or plate.
I won't survey a ferro-cement boat because it is impossible to determine the condition of the steel reinforcing, and if the reinforcing is compromised, the hull strength is greatly compromised. Looking at the hull from the exterior and interior for rust stains is the best you can do, and if it was recently painted all you see is fresh paint. It is too easy to get fooled just like the guy who bought the one in the picture CSY man sent.
I know some people have had good luck with ferro boats. but I would pick a boat of just about any other material for myself.
Brian

and if it was recently painted all you see is fresh paint. It is too easy to get fooled just like the guy who bought the one in the picture CSY man sent.

Bingo...The boat on the picture was laying in my canal for over 10 years and was bleeding rust stains all over the top-sides for years. When the neighbors complained to much, the owner would splash some white paint over the rust. It was almost an annual ritual.
That being said, the owner must have had his head in the sand because he thought the boat was strong and sound...He kept saying that ferro cement boats gets stronger as they age and he would take his boat anywherem, etc.

I'd call it lack of common sense and hope that is the exception rather than the rule among owners of ferro boats.

When the boat in the picture was sold and sailed away from the neighborhood, champagne corks were flying and people were singing and dancing in the streets.

...I won't survey a ferro-cement boat because it is impossible to determine the condition of the steel reinforcing, and if the reinforcing is compromised, the hull strength is greatly compromised. Looking at the hull from the exterior and interior for rust stains is the best you can do, and if it was recently painted all you see is fresh paint. It is too easy to get fooled just like the guy who bought the one in the picture CSY man sent.
I know some people have had good luck with ferro boats. but I would pick a boat of just about any other material for myself.

Until recently I had a big team of surveyors working for me. NONE of them would survey ferro cement hulls and that included refusing to survey ones that had been originally professionally built under THEIR very own supervision.

As usual in the ferro topics; ferro bad, osmosis good. Just because GRP is the most common production hull material, doesn't make it the best. I wouldn't trust the majority of production glass boats in open water, because the scantlings were never up to scratch. A well designed, built and maintained one is a different story and the same applies to ferro.

There is no such thing as the best hull material, or no maintenance material!

And back to ferro, it is not concrete. Ferro, ferrous, ferric=iron. They are a steel reinforced, high quality sand/cement plaster construction, which is quite a different material to what they use to construct buildings.